


Incandescent Legacy

by DCRedux



Category: The Flash (Comics), The Flash (TV 1990), The Flash (TV 2014), The Flash - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Mad Science, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-23
Updated: 2016-08-08
Packaged: 2018-07-26 05:46:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7562674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DCRedux/pseuds/DCRedux
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Central City may be the 'City of Tomorrow' but Barry Allen can't help but feel like he's standing stock still, until a freak accident grants Barry super speed, he must uncover the dangerous secret behind the creation of this modern utopia and prevent a hellish apocalyptic future from occurring.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

  **DC Redux Presents**

" **Unlock"**

**An Eobard Thawne Story**

**Written By James Brady**

* * *

Eobard's eyes drift open as he bathes in the glow of the open sky. His eyes look into the gaping ray of sunshine that looms through the haze of dark that surrounds him. He sighs as the black clouds swallow it again and he gets up from the path of ash he's found rest in. He looks back to his current situation and scans the surrounding area, rocks, rusty machinery, cardboard or something. He continues on through the wreckage of the old building scattering small piles of rubble with a long metal pole as he goes. He hears a whistle of wind and raises his head. His eyes fixate on an old large machine on the edge of the room. He wanders towards it and examines the rear, quickly finding a nut to unscrew and the metal grating of the machine pops open. He shines his flashlight inside as he scopes the machinery in search of anything that may be useful. Fleeting glimmers of a reflective surface inside the old machine draws Eobard's attention. He reaches out and grasps the tiny shimmering object and brings it down into his palm. He sits back from the machine and looks towards his open palm.

A small golden key lies in his open hand, a lightning bolt logo emblazoned across it. Eobard's eyes suddenly widen in shock as he leaps from where he was sat and rushes down the road. He dashes through the streets of the dilapidated city, the wind in his hair and the dust by his heels.

"Mom! Dad!" He cries as he nears their makeshift home.

Theodore and Angela Thawne look up from their small fruitless gardening patch to see Eobard nearing them.

"I've found it! I've found the key!" He shouts excitedly.

"No..." His father whispers under his breath as his son nears them.

"Let's see, let's see." His mother stammers in excitement.

The two gather around as they inspect the tiny object in their son's hand.

"Would you look at that..." Theodore mutters as his eyes rise from the key to meet his son's.

"Come." He says calmly as a beaming smile breaks out across his scarred and weathered face.

The family walk together through the streets of the crumbling city. Cars that either the Thawne's or raiders have looted for parts litter the roads of the city as a perpetual dusty wind surrounds them always carrying diseases on its tides cast inwards from where the ocean once was. Violent lightning storms that seem to target lonely travellers plague the area as the clouds block out any substantial light from the sun. The Thawnes remain in what was, Central City struggling for their every meal, desperately counting every day that they survive in this inhospitable wasteland. Those who have lived here either moved south in search of water or north in search of civilisation. The Thawnes remain.

They round a corner and face it. A faded golden statue of the 21st Century Superhero, The Flash stands in front of the once world famous Flash Museum at the heart of the once vibrant metropolis. They approach the titanium doors that have stood fast in the attempts of many to enter the building over the years. Eobard nervously steps forward and positions the key in the lock and slowly turns it. A low creaking sound is heard with a rumble of machinery before the titanium doors slowly begin to be lifted into the air. Cautiously, the family enter.

To their shock, the building is almost perfectly maintained intact. Artefacts from the Flash's time travel adventures and visits to other worlds are perfectly preserved in their display casing. Huge images of the Flash and his various superhero team-ups are proudly hung on the walls. They pass a silver helmet with wing tips on the sides and a yellow and red smaller version of the Flash costume. The weaponry of the Flash's nefarious Rogues gallery are kept in sealed casing next to their costumes. Theodore Thawne brings out his crowbar and smashes the casing taking Captain Cold's Freeze gun.

"Dad!" Eobard protests.

Theodore taps the trigger and out comes a bolt of high concentrated ice that freezes itself to the wall.

"Woah.." Eobard mutters.

"This could come in handy." Theodore laughs.

The family continue on through the museum as they come to a massive mural of the Flash Family each hero having signed their signature on the image. Eobard stops and stares at the image as he looks at each of the smiling faces all running together in unison as a family with the Flash himself leading the charge. He turns to see his mother and father scavenging through the museum behind him before looking back to the Flash family mural. On the wall next to the mural is a sign saying, _Cosmic Treadmill_.

Eobard follows the sign into a large dark room. He switches on his flashlight as he comes face to face with the machine. Held on a small pedestal the gleaming technological wonder of a machine made into a simple treadmill now covered in dust. Eobard steps towards the machine and reads the information sign.

_The Cosmic Treadmill was a device created by the Flash in order to help him transcend time and space in order to travel backwards in time, at super speed. Created with the help of Ted Kord this is just the prototype and never actually allowed The Flash to successfully time travel. He was generous enough to donate it to the museum._

"What've you found there Eddie?" His father calls to him.

"It's a time machine. It doesn't work but it says that it was a 'pro-to-type?' Whatever that means."

"A time machine?"

"Yeah."

"My god do you know what this means?!" Theodore exclaims.

"What?" Angela asks following behind him.

"We could reverse all of this!"

"Reverse? What're you talking about?"

"Don't you see?! If we can get this machine to work we can go back in time and stop all this from happening! The Crisis can be averted, we could make a better world!"

"Theo, do you even know how this machine works? For all you know this could kill you."

"I've been repairing machine out of scrap all my life in this town Angela, this is just another one of them and if I die, isn't it better to have tried to save all those lives than to do nothing? We can do what those good for nothing heroes failed to achieve! Those fools allowed this all to happen in the first place and now it's up to us to fix their mistake. To fix the Flash's mistake."

"We don't know if the Flash is to blame for this, it's just speculation, it could've been multiple factors."

"The Flash was the hero of this city, Angela and look what he let happen! Look how they praised him erecting monuments in his honour and a building to show case his achievements. He was a God to these people once and now there is no one else to worship him because he let them die. He should have protected this city and he let this happen. Even if he's not to blame for the Crisis he's to blame for letting it destroy this city."

"We should do it." Eobard chirps in. "We should be the heroes the Flash couldn't be."

Theodore smiles at his son.

"We're not heroes, Eobard, we're just people who are going to do the right thing."

"Okay but this is going to take a lot of work." Angela sighs. "Let's make history."

Hours later the Thawne's have finished studying the Treadmill and Eobard is left alone in the museum looking through old magazines about the Flash's powers. He looks up to see the Flash's costume hung up in a showcase. He gets up and walks over to it. He breaks the glass on the showcase and opens it and takes the Flash costume down. He looks over the fabric carefully studying the design. He looks into the masks' holes in the face to see, what looks like, yellow. He sticks his hand into the mouth hole and begins to pull the costume inside out. He looks down at the now reversed version of the Flash's costume now primarily yellow with a red lightning bolt with a black background and hangs it back up in the showcase and stands back to look at his handiwork.

He takes the Flash key out of the lock and the titanium steel gates close behind him. He looks into the dark skies and sees the clouds rumble again red lightning crackles in the skies above.

 


	2. Counting Seconds

"I know I've been saying this for ages now but I'm coming to visit you, Iris."

"This time, you mean it?" Iris West smirks at Barry via her laptop screen.

"I do. I've saved up enough money. My boss is finally letting me get some time off. I've got one more late shift tomorrow night and then I've got a full week off work. I'm going to come and visit you, I promise this time Iris."

"Really?"

"This time Iris. Really." Barry says sincerely, his eyes transfixed on his monitor.

"Okay. It's just I've been really slammed with orders recently with Comic Con coming up but I should be okay for... this weekend?"

"It's a date," Barry says holding up his Smart Phone to the monitor for Iris to see. "Look, I'm putting it on my calendar right now."

"Buy the flight tickets then I'll get excited Mr. Allen." She says playfully.

"Okay okay. I'll do it as soon as my payday cheque comes in tomorrow."

There's a moment's silence as Iris glances away.

"You don't seem that excited," Barry asks solemnly.

"I am Barry but..." She stutters as she inhales gently. "It's just you're going to be here and then you going to be back there again and that'll be it for God knows how long and... I just wish we could have something more permanent."

"I know Iris. I don't want to be working in the crummy drug store all my life. I want to go to LA, I wanna see the country, heck, I wanna see the world, Iris. It's just that where I'm from, people don't usually leave. The economy here is so tightly controlled and jobs are so strictly governed by Wells and his parliament, people don't just up and leave. It's the way the Central City Project works and I'm nothing but a cog in it y'know."

"You've still got the single best economy and highest life expectancy for any city in the country, a crime rate of 0%. That's a pretty good clock to be a part of. I've seen so many of my friends die from crime or drugs in this part of LA. They've been trying to implement it here for so long but just can't. Whatever it is that works in for Central City is probably Mayor Wells. There are no politicians here that could implement something like that."

"At least you don't feel trapped Iris. Look tell me about your day, I bet it's far more exciting than mine."

"Okay, so where do I start..."

The next morning

10:13 Mr. Singh's watch reads. 'Late again.' He thinks to himself.

Barry Allen bursts through the door and almost collapses as he enters the small drug store.

"You're late Allen." Singh sighs. "Get up stairs you've got a prescription list the length of my arm to start putting together!"

"Mr. Singh I'm so sorry. I must've slept in I-"

"I don't wanna hear it, Allen. People need these pills, don't let them down."

"Yes, sir," Barry says profoundly.

* * *

**Central City University**

The excited graduates all watch as a suit wearing, tall gaunt man with dark brown hair takes the stage. His face creases into a pearly white smile as his hands stretch out to clutch each side of the podium. He leans in gently to the microphone.

"Thank you, CCU!" He announces. "While here in Central City we thrive on regulation to keep our proud city strong, today is a day where we break that mould and celebrate the hard work you have put in that has led to your achievement. Each and every one of you has chosen a path with which you wish to now serve the City that your parents helped build and will carry on in their footsteps. You are the first generation raised entirely within the borders of Central City and you shall not be the last. Central City is the future ladies and gentlemen and you should be proud to be the first fruits of that future and that future can only be made by those willing to work together to achieve it. While being an individual is important, being a community is what makes progress. One day everyone will enjoy the unity that we feel every day in Central City but until that day comes we have much work to do. I am proud to say that each and every one of you is a Central City Citizen and when we go out to share our gift with this world you should wear your Citizenship with pride!"

A shower of academic hats plunges into the air as the crowd goes wild cheering the tall man as he steps away from the podium. The school dean approaches him and shakes his hand earnestly before taking the podium himself.

"Thank you! Mayor Wells for your truly inspirational words here today, now if all students could take to the front field to take our 2016 CCU leavers photo."

Wells smiles as he leaves the stage and approaches his car which is opened by a security team member. He slides into the back seat as the car's engine starts up.

"How did the speech go, Mayor Wells?" His driver asks.

"It was fine, Alonzo. Just get me back to the office." Mayor Harrison Wells says, his tone taking a steely quality.

"Yes, sir," He replies.

Wells takes out his phone and swipes away the list of appointments he has scheduled today to open up his weather app.

"Clear skies again..." He thinks. "Good..."

* * *

**That evening**

Barry says goodbye to Mr. Singh as he comes down from the upstairs lab to lock up for the night. He flips the closed sign and begins pulling down the blinds when he hears a sudden knock at the door. He goes to the door to see Leonard Snart, a short haired built man wearing a light blue shirt and jeans, at the door. Barry pulls out the keys and opens the door letting Snart in.

"Hiya Barry. Sorry to bother you just as you're closing up but my sister really needs her heart medicine."

"Hey, it's no problem, Leo. It's Lisa right?" Barry asks hopping over the counter as he looks through the prescription boxes.

"Snart, yes."

"Ah hah. Got them." Barry says turning around with the small box handing it to Leonard.

"Thanks, Barry, you're a life saver. I was meaning to swing by earlier to grab them but I've been kinda preoccupied with... stuff at the moment y'know." Leonard says as he leaves the drug store.

"I hear you, man. Hope Lisa feels better soon hey. Maybe you should consider getting her checked into the hospital."

"I've been looking after her my entire life man, I know her condition better than any doctor could." Snart says with a slightly aggressive tone in his voice. "But I appreciate the concern."

"Oh uh. No worries..." Barry says as Leonard starts off down the street.

"Yeah." Snart replies.

Barry finishes locking up, counts up the money in the cash register, puts it in the safe and heads back up to the lab.

He sits down at his desk and begins to look under the microscope only for him to get a text. He checks it.

_Iris 3 West: Already missing our Skype chat :[ x_

He replies: _Won't be long now Iris. Been missing you for too long now. x_

* * *

**Later**

Harrison Wells stands on his balcony looking down on the city from his manor house on the hill. He takes another sip of gin as he hears the soft padding of bare feet behind him.

"What're you doing up so late huh? Come back to bed." Jane Wells says as she puts her arms around her husband's shoulders.

"Look up at the stars." He says putting his arms around his wife's waist.

"The light you can see now was originally produced during the 16th century around the time of William Shakespeare. It's almost as if we're now bathing in his light."

"I mean sort of," Jane replies.

"Consider the way his work is still so intrinsically woven into our society. That's how I wish to serve the world, Jane. I don't want to be someone who tried and failed to achieve something. I want to be someone who's light goes on without him and bathes those far off in the future. I want to feel like everything I've done here in Central City will matter."

"And it does Harrison. You need to stop thinking about how your work will be appreciated by people you'll never meet or never know. You should focus on what's in front of you right now."

Harrison turns and looks to his wife.

"I'm. Sorry." He sighs. "I just-"

Jane kisses him passionately before taking him by the hand and leading him back inside. As the sliding door closes behind them the first drop of rain hits the stone balcony.

* * *

**Drug Store**

Barry is carefully weighing out measurements for capsules of antibiotics when he hears his phone buzz again. Barry gets up and opens the phone to see the message from Iris reading:

_I love you so much x_

Barry smiles and goes to reply when he hears a rumble of thunder over head. Barry gets up to see a massive dark cloud rolling over the city from the window and with that a lightning bolt tears through the night's sky over Central City.


	3. Chapter 3

Leonard Snart climbs the steps to her bed room as he carefully holds a cup of water in one hand and 3 pills in the other. He knocks gently on the door and hears her voice call him inside.

"Heya sis. Time for your meds." Leonard says as he enters the darkened room.

He looks to the bed to see his fragile sister, Lisa. Her delicate body is plagued with tubing up her nostrils and small plasters hold needles into her skin as they feed her nutrients and record her vitals on a machine next to her bed which keeps her heart beating. Her ghostly pale face brightens up as she sees her brother approach.

"Thank you, Leo." She whispers as she tries to sit upright.

"No no. Stay where you are Lisa. Just relax okay?" Leonard says as he pulls up a chair next to her.

"Oh give up. I can sit up, can't I? I'm not dead yet." She croaks smirking cheekily at him.

"Oh, c'mon you know I hate it when you say that." Leonard groans.

"I'm just teasing you. You know I'll pull through like I always do." She rests her hand on his calming his nerves.

"I know dummy. Now take your meds will ya? Gonna give me a heart attack for once."

The two share a chuckle before she tosses back the pills with a slug of water. Leonard looks to the window as he sees the rain start to pour onto the city.

"Damn. So much for clear skies then." Leonard mutters.

"So today, I was rooting through some of mom's old things," Lisa says reaching over to the bedside table. "And I found the old poetry book she used to read to us as kids. Remember?" She asks handing Leonard the book.

He looks at the title reading, _Collected Poetry of Robert Frost_.

"Oh gosh, yeah she'd always read this to us before bed wouldn't she?"

"You'd always beg for 'just one more ma!'"

"Don't tell me you actually wanted to have to go to sleep this whole time?"

"Read me the one I've book marked would you?"

"Like a bed time story?"

"Like old times." She corrects him as she pulls the covers up to her chin.

Leonard clears his voice.

 _Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,_  
And sorry I could not travel both  
And be one traveler, long I stood  
And looked down one as far as I could  
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

* * *

**Central City Hospital**

Doors of the A&E swing wide as nurses pull Barry Allen into the surgery. His completely charred body sends off flecks of lightning with the movement of the stretcher as he violently spasms in sudden shockwaves of speed coursing through him. They wheel him into the surgery as the doctor calls for the nurses to hold down the patient as he reaches for a sedative. The nurses go for Barry's arms only for one of them to suddenly get thrown into a cabinet drawer and the other one to be shocked by a bolt of lightning.

"What the hell is going on with this guy?!" The doctor shouts as he pulls out the sedative syringe.

He approaches Barry and is able to stick the tiny needle into his neck. The spasms slowly begin to calm down as the nurses to recover. The doctor slowly moves towards Barry as the spasms die down only for the sedative to suddenly be spurted back into the doctor's face from the hole made by the needle. Barry begins to spasm more wildly than ever with bolts of electricity sparking out of his body. The lights in the doctor's surgery begin to flicker on and off.

"Alright everyone out! We can't operate on him until this... episode has concluded!" The doctor announces ushering the nurses out of the surgery, quickly locking the door behind them.

Barry is left alone in the surgery as his body rockets out of control. He falls to the ground his entire body caught in a violent flurry's of super speed as bolts of lightning scatter off him.

Barry's mind is a fractured mess as he sees flashes of somewhere, another time. He sees buildings crumbling and empty with the skies constantly darkened by a huge thundercloud. Familiar places turned to ash and rubble with the constant crackle of death on the wind. He sees two shallow graves below the crumbling statue of a man but can't make out who the man is.

 _Then took the other, as just as fair_  
And having perhaps the better claim,  
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;  
Though as for that the passing there  
Had worn them really about the same,

* * *

**Mayor Wells Manor House**

Harrison Wells sits bolt upright in bed as his chest heaves heavily. Sweat pours from his forehead as he shivers wiping his brow. He sits on the edge of the bed and turns on the bedside light as he tries to calm himself down. His countenance turns black as he looks up to the window where he sees rain clouds as far as the eye can see pouring over his city. He reaches for his phone and opens an app that projects a hologram into the air before him. The hologram is a well detailed time line stretching from 1990 till the early 2110's. He stares at the timeline for a moment before tapping on the year 2016 where it reads, First Appearance of The Flash.

 _And both that morning equally lay_  
In leaves, no step had trodden black.  
Oh, I kept the first for another day!  
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,  
I doubted if I should ever come back.

* * *

**Central City Hospital**

The doctors wait patiently outside of the surgery they've locked Barry in each of them looking grimy into the small window to see what's happening to him.

"Yeah, I've just been looking through pages of notes on lightning bolt victims, nothing like this has ever been seen before." One of the nurses says looking down at his phone.

"The readings they were able to take from him in the ambulance on the way over here are astonishing." The doctor mutters as he flicks through the patient notes the paramedics printed off from the heart rate monitor. "This guy's vitals make it seem as if he was dying and being resurrected in the same moment and if that was then, what on earth could be going on inside him now?" The doctor mutters to himself.

"Whatever it is, I'm not going to let it destroy my reputation." One of the nurses says vehemently. "I'll never graduate to general practitioner if I've got some crack pot story about a guy becoming some kind of... human lightning bolt. We can't let these readings get out or we'll be laughed out of the medical profession."

"Indeed, I can't risk loosing this job." The doctor concurs. "Anyway, by the looks of things he seems to be calming down."

The nurses peer into the surgery where they see Barry lying on the floor shuddering ever so slightly. The doctor and the nurses unlock the door and slowly step inside as they approach the slowly shivering body of Barry Allen. As they get closer his body slowly begins to shiver and shake more and more until he begins to rise slowly into the air. Huge lightning bolts now leap from his body crashing into cabinets and the walls. The lights flicker violently as Barry continues to shoot off bolts of lightning as he rises higher into the air. The doctor and the nurses all watch in horror as the lifeless body levitates before them. The bolts of lightning start to get worse as the vibrating of the body begins to cause gusts of wind to start picking up around the surgery throwing books and cases off the shelves. The flickering lights get worse and worse until, in one last gush of energy from Barry, everything goes black!

_I shall be telling this with a sigh  
Somewhere ages and ages hence:_

* * *

**Mayor Well's Manor House**

Harrison suddenly feels his wife turn next to him and he quickly closes down the hologram. She slowly rises from lying on the bed to look up to her husband with the bedside light on.

"Hey... you okay?"

"Ye-yeah. I'm fine." Harrison sighs.

"Did you have that nightmare again?"

"Yes," Harrison says as he throws his head back before slowly falling back into bed. "There was something chasing me again... This monster was chasing me still but this time," He turns to his wife and looks her dead in the eyes. "I out ran it this time and now it can't ever hurt me ever again."

"Good," Jane smirks at Harrison. "You're safe now. We're safe. Now, can you get some sleep?"

"Yes." Harrison reaches to turn out the light when it suddenly flickers on and off before going out completely.

Harrison's brow furrows as he curses the electric company when he notices the same thing happening over the city. He gets out of his bed as he sees all across the city lights flickering on and off before all going out completely.

 _Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —_  
I took the one less traveled by,  
**And that has made all the difference.**

* * *

**The Snart Apartment**

Leonard Snart sleeps soundly in the chair opposite his sister's bed. She lies calmly breathing as the machine attached to her heart begins to flicker on and off again before going off as the EMP blast hits their apartment block.

* * *

**Central City Hospital**

As the lights in the city go out the light around Barry's body suddenly begin to light up as exorbitant amounts of energy suddenly begin pouring into his floating body. It casts over his charred burnt body like a paint brush on a canvas. Suddenly the bright energy around him vanishes and Barry falls to the ground. The lights in the surgery all come back on as power is restored all over the city. The doctors are in a state of utter shock as they watch Barry closely.

"Oh my god."The doctor mutters to himself as he looks at Barry's completely healed body without a sign of charring on his skin.

The nurses slowly lift his now still body back onto the stretcher. They check his pulse, completely steady.

The doctor looks gravely to the two nurses beside him. "Not one word." He says sternly.

* * *

The morning

**Snart Apartment**

Leonard's heavy eyelids begin to lift as the early morning sun reaches him. He rubs the sleep out of his eyes and puts the book back on the bedside table. He steps towards Lisa and places his hand gently on her forehead to feel it's completely cold. His hand shoots back as his mind begins to race. He frantically checks her pulse and checks the machines' readings. His lip quivers as his eyes begin to flood with tears. He takes her limp hand in his and sinks to the ground beside her bed as she lies there as gently as ever.


End file.
